Monday, December 13, 2010

I am being transfered! Dos Hermanas Sevilla 12/13/10

This week has probably been the most "el loco" week I´ve had yet on the mission. It was the most succesful, the most busy and the most stressful.Our area Dos Hermanas is really fantastic. We´re teaching a lot, we're finding tons of new people and we are having great success with some of them.

The Mission President called me last Friday and I´m moving to my next new area this coming wednesday December 15th. We are moving a week early cuz my Mission President doesn´t want us moving too close to the holidays and it's normal for me to go, cuz I´ve been here 6 months. But, I was suprised when my companion Elder Bassurto told me he was moving also. Then I was shocked and a bit upset when I heard that our area (Dos Hermanas) will be temporarely closed. We won't know for how long! We won't be replaced when gone. There will be no more Elders or sisters serving in Dos Hermanas for a while. This is the first time in 40-years! It's because out of the 20-35 missionaries that are supposed to be in Spain recently, only 4 have arrived, 3 Sisters and one Elder. We are supposed to have 120 missionaries and we only have 68. Spain is having huge problem of issuing Visas.

BUT, instead of being discouraged, me and Elder Barsurto have been working really hard. We fixed 6 baptismal dates since Friday. All different families. The first two were in a city called Lebrija, which is a little bit too far from Dos Hermana but still in our ward.Then Elder Taylor and I set 3 more baptismal dates with some people from Paraguay. Two were a couple and 1 was a girl who lives in the same house. But, the couple came to church yesterday, and the husband said he almost burst into tears cause he felt the spirit so strong. And we set one with a man from Argentina. This guy is crazy cool. We are going to try to organize something with the Church in his country, cuz he runs a school for poor children. He provides, food, clothes and education. But, he wants to provide them with spiritual experiences as well. He used to live in Paris and he would bike from Paris all the way to Sevilla Spain. lol.Elder Taylor is 6´8 and everywhere we went, people just stared at us! Funny, hein?

Now with 6 upcoming baptims on our list, this sets us appart of having the most potential baptisms in all of the mission. We have so many more investigators about ready to accept baptism and also plenty golden potental investigators who want to hear about the gospel. Unfortunately pretty soon we will have to turn our missionary work over to the Ward. The Ward will be in charge starting this week of making sure the baptims are met and the new investigators are being taught and cared for. The ward seems excited about the future baptisms and the potential investigators. I think the members will be able to do it. The Bishop didn´t want us to reveal to the Ward members about the "Mission being temporarely closed" in the area of Dos Hermanas.

It's been stressful preparing everything. We´ve been doing lots of meetings, and we´re going to have to teach all the ward missionaries a crash course in missionary work. We are also passing on our English classes,(which have been increasingly getting successful,) to the family from England. One of their sons wants to teach English to Spanish people as a living, so this is a perfect oppurtunity. And on top of it, we´re still living with Isabel cuz the new piso isn´t ready for us to move in yet. So it will be ready for the new missionaries, if they ever come. They sure will have a very nice place to live in. I´m also worried about packing, cuz I have a ton of stuff that I have to carry.I definitely don't want to leave my empty soda cans behind...I've got to find room for them in my suitcases! Can you tell I had too much sodas?

My next area is in Jerez de la Frontera Of the province of Cadiz. It's actually really close to Sevilla. Lebrija is so close, I had permission from the Mission President to continue teaching the two baptismal dates from Lebrija. Our goal is actually 200, and we´re almost there.

That's good to hear that grandpa's Funeral went well. How is everyone in the family? How are you guys taking it?

Click on the picture for a larger view. Sept. 20th - 25th 2010

Leadership training at the Mission home in Malaga 07/18/2010

Malaga Spain Mission 07/06/10

President Richard R. Clegg, his wife & Elder Bennett. This is a pic taken when Elder Bennett first arrived in Malaga Spain. BIENVENIDO

Madrid Spain MTC 06/23/10 to 07/05/10

The new Missionaries when they first arrived in the Madrid SPAIN MTC on June 23rd, 2010.

Provo MTC 05/05/10 to 06/21/10

Elder Pratt (Provo MTC companion) & Elder Bennett

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Expanding the Vineyard

The First Presidency has determined that on July 1, 2010 the Spain Bilbao Mission will be dissolved and the boundaries of the Spain Barcelona and Spain Madrid Missions will be realigned to include the areas now served by the Spain Bilbao Mission. President Richard R. Clegg (from the Bilbao Mission) will be the new mission president of the Spain Málaga Mission. In conjunction with these changes, the Elche Stake (from the Barcelona Mission) and La Mancha district (from the Madrid Mission) will be associated with the Spain Málaga Mission. The Canary Islands (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain District) will be associated with the Spain Madrid Mission presided over by President Watkins.